PREN - Kitchen and Cafe — Restaurant in Chester

For many weeks we had heard of the great new restaurant in Chester, Pren Kitchen. As local foodies, we were eager to try the new lunch spot, but until today did not have the opportunity to eat at the popular eatery. My review is mixed, but in summary, Pren Kitchen doesn't quite meet expectations.

Food: We ordered three appetizers, two lunches, and two desserts. Appetizers were wonderful, mains and dessert were dissapointing. Spicy Brussel Sprouts: These were delicious; browned and crisp and just enough heat and well seasoned. We loved them. Buffalo Chicken Egg-rolls: Also delicious, the chicken was moist and the egg roll was crispy and fresh. Pierogi with Carmelized Onion: The presentation was great, with a perfect sear on each of the three large pieces. Unfortunately, the texture of the filling could have been improved-felt slightly overworked and paste like.

Silders with Pren Fries: Two tiny ground beef pucks, way overcooked and without much flavor. I expected steamed onions or a sauce-- something - but these were ground beef, cheese square and bread. Truly disappointing. The Pren fries were comical; limp and undercooked potato under a pile of Parmesan and rosemary crumble. When described by the server it sounded appealing, but the textures didn't come together and were mostly left on the plate.

Chicken Cheddar Jalapeño Burger: Was there cheese? Was there spice? I honestly don't remember. It tasted like a common chicken burger from the grocery store but somehow with less flavor. Again, it needed a sauce, better cheese, and something to elevate this otherwise boring protein. Fries were undercooked and left on the plate.

GF Dulce de Leche "Fluffy" Cake: This was incredibly disappointing. There was nothing fluffy about the texture of this cake, so why did they advertise it as so? The cookie on the top of the cake was delicious as was the thin layer of frosting. However the cake itself was a failure - not moist, not flavorful and not sweet. We decided it wasn't worth the calories, but when the host asked us about it and we were telling her about how we enjoyed the cookie, she walked away before we were able to explain why the rest of the cake had been left largely untouched on the table.

Atmosphere: The ambiance is lovely; you feel as though you've been transported to a chic college town or the Upper West Side for a grown up lunch. Much attention was spent on decor. It was surprising that our water was served with disposable cups. Our bottled drinks were served unopened, and without ice or glasses. When we asked for same, twice, they never appeared. We watched with some horror as the host belittled guests without a reservation and moved people around the small (and largely empty) dining room to accommodate reservations that had not yet arrived. Every single person that entered was told that their reservation was incorrect - those that had requested outside seating were moved indoors. We had requested an outside table, but were taken into the dining room. Several tables were sat, drinks served, and then moved to make room for parties that had not arrived yet. One diner promised to "eat quickly," only to be rushed to another table. Our three servers had little knowledge of the menu and looked completely checked out. They didn't ask if we needed anything or to check on our experience. Further, they forgot several of our requests. A neighboring party was served soup and only after it had sat for several minutes did the guest get up and find the server to get spoons. When they finally got them, their soup was cold. No apologies or explanations were given. The service felt like an opening day- clearly their front of house needs some training. When packing up a leftover egg roll, the server literally tried to take the plate from my hand. I had requested a box, and was filling it - the eggroll was the only thing left on the table - he just wasn't paying any attention. Again- no apology- we felt as though we were an inconvenience, as we were hurried out of...

3 1/2 stars

I get the overwhelmingly positive feedback for this restaurant - it has a unique atmosphere and you can tell that its proprietors are trying to create something different. I think we can all appreciate that as far as it goes. But in their quest to do that, it felt like they lost sight of the bigger purpose, which is a positive dining experience for its customers. It wasn't a terrible meal by any stretch, but it could have been better, and in my opinion pretty easily.

I came here for brunch on a very nippy Sunday afternoon. My responsible chum made reservations, but it looked fairly empty and was likely unnecessary, at least on this particular day. The interior is certainly a selling point. It has great natural lighting and feels comfortable but not claustrophobic - kind of like sitting in your own sunny kitchen or dining area at home. Our Honorary Young Pup enjoyed it as well, and solemnly declared that she wanted to live there within minutes of sitting down; if that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is. There's a giant playable Scrabble board on one wall next to the dessert menu, with plenty of board games underneath. I imagine other parties with young pups are very pleased by that distraction as you wait for your meal (and we didn't have to wait long - the food came out almost too quickly).

In one of the more mystifying moments of the meal, we discovered that Pren does not offer coffee as a drink option on their menu. Two of us opted for hot tea in lieu of same, but coffee on a cold Sunday would have been very welcome. This to me is an example of overthinking the concept. Obviously I don't know what the thought process was there (and I'm genuinely curious about it), but I don't know too many people who don't want coffee at brunch. That's a slam dunk. We ended up going down the street for lattes afterwards, so that's money this place left on the table.

I ordered the belgian waffle with berries and cream. It was okay, though the waffle was a bit overcooked. I didn't take points off for this since I didn't care enough to follow up, but I did think it was odd that it didn't come with syrup and/or butter on the side. Just something to keep in mind if it's important to you. Also in a strange move, instead of more traditional silverwear, Pren has this weird medical scalpel knife they give you, which was actually a little awkward to use, especially with a slightly overcooked waffle. This again might be overthinking the concept on their end.

The Honorary Young Pup ordered the buttermilk chicken fingers with fries, and it was delicious. I shamelessly ate quite a few pieces (I have very few moral qualms about stealing food from children), but it was tender, juicy and perfectly seasoned. If I came back here, I would focus exclusively on the chicken - they've mastered the almighty poultry. It may have been an off day, but no one was keen on the fries. They were on the soggy side and pretty flavorless, even the Pren fries that had rosemary and parmesan on them. My chum got the jumbo lump crab cake and seemed pretty pleased with it, though it was falling apart almost immediately upon contact with her paws.

We closed this adventure out with another strong performance from the dessert menu - all three available cookies (raspberry thumb print, snickerdoodle and chocolate chip) were ordered, and all were excellent. The chocolate chip was probably the best, slightly undercooked to perfection, but it was a close, delicious race.

There's a lot to like here. The prices were pretty reasonable, especially for this area, and there's no undervaluing quality service like this. I get the impression though that brunch isn't their niche, so you may want to go at a different...

The food was very good, but unfortunately that is not enough for me to keep returning to this restaurant. I came in today for lunch with my mother and son to find two women running the floor who did not look like they wanted to be there at all. I believe the one woman’s name was Angeline. I am not sure what the other woman’s name was with the short dark curly hair. First, we were greeted so poorly. Then, as we got to our seat, we began trying to figure out how to work the straps in the very odd and outdated high chairs that won’t even fit a child past the age of one. When I went to the front counter to ask if we can be shown how the straps work, Angeline replied with a clueless “I have no idea I don’t even have children.” And the dark curly haired woman walked over with an attitude and also looked clueless as she jostled the straps around trying to figure it out. She finally incorrectly instructed that the child’s head goes in the wrong opening. My mother replied with “that would choke the baby.” She replied with “babies go in there all the time,” and in such a nasty tone “you don’t have to put him in there” and walked away with her hands thrown up in the air. I was disgusted to say the least from that point on. A little while later, my mother has her come over again and tells her we figured out the straps and put my one year old safely in the seat. In an upset tone she told the woman that had we have listened to her we would have choked my baby. Her very rude excuse was “we are very busy today, ARE YOU READY TO ORDER OR SHOULD I COME BACK?” I told her in an upset tone that my baby just finished physical therapy to strengthen his low muscle tone in his neck and just how upset I was at what we were told in this situation. When she walked away I just lost it and cried. I couldn’t even look at her when I gave my order I was shaking that much. It might be a pleasant experience if you are only with other adults, but they make it quite clear they are discouraging young children from being there. I will not ever be coming back after the way my mother, son, and myself were treated. I will also be telling all the people we know that eat in Chester all about this awful experience. We regret not getting up and just leaving right after we were first...